BARBADOS IS NOT the only Caribbean destination benefitting from an upswing in tourism.
Caribbean Tourism Organisatoin (CTO) chairman Richard Sealy said “international tourist arrivals in the Caribbean continue to be strong with 5.8 per cent increase through June, outpacing all major regions in the world”.
Sealy, who is Barbados’ Minister of Tourism, was speaking at the recent CTO-led State Of The Industry Conference at the World Trade Centre, Curacao.
“For the first six months, the Caribbean welcomed 14.8 million [tourists], approximately 800 000 or 5.8 per cent higher than the corresponding period in 2014, well above the 4.1 per cent recorded globally. The Caribbean share of global arrivals stood at 2.8 per cent,” he said.
“The Dutch Caribbean saw the fastest relative growth across the sub regions in the first six months of 2015 with an 8.5 per cent increase in arrivals. All destinations in this sub region had considerable growth, benefitting from increased demand from the US and South American markets.”
Sealy added that of the other five sub regions, only the French West Indies recorded a slight decline.
“Data obtained from CTO member countries shows that the US remains our main market with 7.3 million US tourist visits between January and June representing a 5.3 per cent rise,” he noted.
The minister also said that “the thawing of the relationship between Cuba and the United States resulted in greater number of Americans transiting through other countries like The Bahamas, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands in order to visit Cuba.”
Sealy also said the Canadian market continues to perform well with 2.1 million visits during the first half of the year, while arrivals from Europe increased by a “modest” 1.1 per cent, moving from 2.58 million in 2014 to 2.61 million in 2015.
“The intra regional market recorded strong growth of 5.5 per cent, with some 400 000 visits. The indicators which are used to monitor the performance of the accommodation sector were positive and holding strong through to the end of June,” he added.
Sealy said the overall numbers “suggest that the prospects for Caribbean tourism are good, and we remain cautiously optimistic that we will maintain the pace during the second half” of the year.
The CTO predicts that regional tourism will grow by five to six per cent this year. (SC)
